As the calendar turns to September, the fall movie season brings forth its annual treasure trove of highly anticipated Oscar hopefuls and prestige pictures; films which studios have strategically positioned and marketed for maximum attention and success.  And naturally here at Awards Circuit our attention transitions with the season.  Before we dive in to the films likely to generate, maintain, and perhaps even lose Oscar buzz over the next few months, I thought I would take one more look at the Summer Movie Season, expanding on the work of my colleagues, and break the season down to its dollars and cents.

So, I have gone back through the Summer movie season for 2011, defined as beginning on May 6, 2011 and concluding on August 26, 2011, and have selected 56 films to analyze, breakdown, and write about one last time.  Let’s see what succeeded, what failed, and what made studios sweat in the Summer of 2011. 

NOTE:  All figures referenced are as of August 28, 2011

THE FRANCHISE REMAINS STRONG

The be all and end all for the summer box office is summed up in two words – Harry and Potter.  “Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2″ is thus far, the biggest grossing film of the year, both here and abroad.  The film is also far and away the biggest earning “Potter” film of all time as well.  The 8th and final film in the franchise, or film 7.2 if you want to be picky, saw Ron, Hermione, and Harry’s adventures come to a bittersweet end and left critics and audiences completely satisfied and rather melancholy over the franchise’s conclusion.  Assessing the financials for the film is difficult since the $250 million production was split into two parts.  In its totality, the film’s two volumes grossed $665.8 million domestic and an unfathomable $2.249 billion worldwide.  Naturally, the film would never have been released in its complete form, but some have argued that the film should take a rightful place behind “Avatar” as the second-biggest grossing film of all time.

“Transformers: Dark Of The Moon” also achieved some rarefied air joining the Billion Dollar Club and proving that critics be damned, “Transformers” films are what the people want and love to see.  While domestic grosses dipped for this film, when compared to 2009′s “…Revenge of the Fallen”, “Dark Of The Moon” became the biggest grossing film in the franchise w0rldwide and the first in the franchise to move past $1 billion in its theatrical run.

The first huge success of August was “Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes”, whose poor trailering and marketing left many to figure this was another throwaway big-budget August release.  In actuality, the film was a well-received and impressively mounted relaunch to the beloved “Planet Of The Apes” franchise.  Essentially recreating the entire series mythology, “…Apes” featured groundbreaking, Oscar-worthy visual effects from WETA Digital and renewed a cry for Andy Serkis to again receive consideration for an Oscar nomination for yet another impressive motion-capture performance (Serkis played Gollum in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and “King Kong” in Peter Jackson’s 2006 remake).  By the end of the month, “Apes” had moved well past $300 million in worldwide receipts and a sequel is already in pre-production  for 2013.

Introducing Chris Hemsworth in the titular role, “Thor” was a film which had a lot resting open its mighty shoulders.  Serving as the penultimate film for 2012′s highly anticipated “The Avengers”,  Paramount needed the film to produce a big number to build anticipation for “Captain America: The First Avenger”, which was slated for July 22.  If “Thor” was met with tepid response, than the entire “Avengers” project could be in peril.  Luckily for Paramount, they saw a nice worldwide reception increase a strong, but not rabid, domestic showing.  “Captain America: The First Avenger” delivered the intended goal of closing the book on “Avengers” prequels on a high note.  “Captain America” was a critical hit and was likewise a strong success both stateside and overseas.

THE FRANCHISE IS IN TROUBLE

A lot of interest was levied on “X-Men: First Class”, which looked to restart the “X-Men” cinematic franchise by moving the characters back to their younger 1960s selves and recasting Magneto, Professor X, Mystique, and the other mutants with bankable new talent.  Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, and Jennifer Lawrence were placed front and center and the film received strong praise from critics.  Overseas audiences made the film a sensation, but stateside the film’s performance could be described as dismal and disappointing.  Budgeted at $160 million, the film failed to earn that in North America and although everything lined up strong for the film to be huge, the disappointing returns were not at all what 20th Century Fox expected.

Pixar saw “Cars 2″ become the first film in its library to not earn back its production budget domestically, earning $187.4 million on a production budget of $200 million.  However, worldwide the film delivered $522 million.  Still, the film’s take was considered a large disappointment.  Most tellingly, Pixar rushed stills and teasers for next summer’s highly anticipated “Brave” out to the media and press the week of release to try and quell the bad PR the film was getting.

THE GROWN UPS GET A LAUGH

June delivered the promise of huge comic book adaptations and reboots, the latest from perhaps the most reliable film studio of all time (Pixar), and Michael Bay’s long-awaited “Transformers: Dark Of The Moon”.  So you would never expect that a low-budget comedy, shot for $20 million, would end up providing the best Return On Investment for the summer of 2011.

“Bad Teacher”, in that realm, is the most successful movie of the summer.  Starring Cameron Diaz in a go-for-broke, vulgar, and tawdry comedic turn, audiences fell, you know, hot for teacher.  Of course, Justin Timberlake, Jason Segel, and others did not hurt the film’s mainstream interest and appeal, but “Bad Teacher” was marketed as Diaz’s picture through and through, and for Sony/Columbia, they returned more than 900% of their investment, grossing more than $201 million worldwide through the end of August.  The film very quietly proved to be a staggering success.  When set up next to “Bridesmaids”, Diaz and the ensemble from that successful film, may have finally broken down some tired and exhausted walls when it comes to how female-led comedies are viewed by major studios.  Time will certainly tell on that front.

And speaking of “Bridesmaids”, May saw the film hit the multiplex, riding a huge wave of anticipation from its showings at South By Southwest and the increasing buzz surrounding Saturday Night Live star Kristen Wiig.  “Bridesmaids” took its fevered anticipation and converted it into box office gold.  Although never reaching #1 at the box office, “Bridesmaids” drew huge repeat business and become the benchmark for not only the R-rated comedy run that defined much of the summer movie season, but also broke down the stigma that an ensemble of women could never open a hugely successful film.

May 26 brought forth “The Hangover Part II”, the long-awaited sequel to the 2009 comedy phenomenon that launched Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galafianakis, and Ken Jeong onto the A-list and branded them as “The Wolf Pack.”  The sequel was a huge disappointment for critics, as the film seemed to be almost a shot-for-shot remake of the inventive and unpredictable first film in the series.  In the court of public opinion however, audiences simply loved their self-absorbed and self-destructive Wolf Pack as “The Hangover Part II” grossed less domestically than the first “Hangover”, but banked substantially more money worldwide than its predecessor.  And yes, “The Hangover Part III” is on its way.

The ensemble R-rated comedy, “Horrible Bosses”  delivered huge numbers in its own right, building off of its $35 million budget and banking more than $113 million in July/August.  Likewise, Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis’ turned “Friends With Benefits” into a nice success and showed the young stars could, in fact, open a movie with their names above the title.  Although the film earned half of “Horrible Bosses”‘ domestic total, the film still brought a 105.1% ROI for Sony/Screen Gems.

The shine came off of the rose for R-rated comedies however when Ryan Reynolds suffered his second bust of the summer when his identity switching comedy with Jason Bateman, “The Change-Up”, tanked everywhere.  The modest “30 Minutes Or Less” turned a small profit without benefit of an international release, and Paul Rudd comedy, “Our Idiot Brother”, was a profit-bearer for The Weinstein Company its first week out of the gates.

SURPRISES/SHOCKS/AND SOLID HITS

Playing to strong response at Cannes, Sony Pictures Classics positioned Woody Allen’s romantic comedy, “Midnight In Paris” as just another typical Allen release.  Planning on playing it on really no more than a couple hundred screens, no one expected that “Midnight In Paris” would be the best received Allen film in years and would go on to become the largest grossing film of his nearly 50-year career.  “Midnight In Paris” received almost unanimous critical and audience acclaim and remains one of only a couple of summer films that are still in the Best Picture conversation for the upcoming 2011 Oscar race.  “Midnight In Paris” was received as a welcome comeback to the mainstream for Allen, a filmmaker and writer who is now seemingly as relevant and important as he has been in decades.

Oscar buzz surrounded and persisted around “The Help”, with many wondering if in a world of “There-May-Or-May-Not-Be 10″, whether or not “The Help” could make it into the Best Picture race.  Drawing a huge amount of controversy over whether it downplays and skirts over the temperament of early-to-mid 1960′s race relations in the South, audiences gave “The Help” the rare A+ CinemaScore rating and have kept the film #1 at the box office for 3 of its 4.5 weeks of release.  Finishing the summer at $96.8 million, the film has since boomed up to $125 million and shows no signs of subsiding anytime soon.  “The Help” is one of the big stories of 2011, let alone the 2011 Summer Movie Season.

J.J. Abrams saw huge success and warm affections for his homage to Steven Spielberg and the films of his youth with “Super 8″, a film which could potentially attain a bit of a cult status and be remembered in the years to come.  Clearly a love letter to his youth, with some terrific young acting performances, “Super 8″ delivered Abrams’ trademark lens flares, disarming humor and warmth, and suspenseful intensity in a throwback alien invasion film that won over most who saw it.

Christopher Plummer earned and retained Best Supporting Actor write ups with his performance in the low budget comedy/drama “Beginners”.  Playing a 80+ year old widowed husband who comes out of the closet once his wife dies, “Beginners” played strong when and where audiences could find the film, returning 271.9% back on its small production budget.

The large ensemble romantic dramedy, “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” started off slower than expected, but held its own, building on good performances and strong word-of-mouth.  The film started to gain traction overseas at the end of the summer and has become a nice hit for Warner Bros. overall.

Another overlooked surprise?  Lionsgate’s African-American themed romantic comedy “Jumping The Broom”, which turned a modest $6.6 million budget into one of the summer’s biggest successes.

THE OVERSEAS CROWDS SAVE THE DAY

Two sequels underperformed badly in the states but made substantial coin overseas.  Shelving much of the cast from the previous films in the series, Penelope Cruz joined forces with Johnny Depp on “Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” and despite a massive opening weekend, “…Tides” failed to earn back its $250 million budget domestically.  However, internationally the film was one of three releases to gross more than $1 billion dollars ($1.039 billion by the end of August), turning a rough beginning for Disney/Buena Vista’s summer into something to celebrate.

Despite making a profit stateside, “Kung Fu Panda 2″ was not the huge follow up success that DreamWorks hoped for, until the numbers began rolling in internationally.  With an international gross of $478.1 million to add to its summer domestic total of $164.3 million, “Panda 2″ exceeded the success of the 2008 starter in the series ultimately.  Why the film failed to do better in North America is a bit of a headscratcher.

“The Smurfs” surprised many by becoming a massive success both home and abroad and Jim Carrey’s “Mr. Popper’s Penguins” was embraced overseas, but received only a pat on the back here at home.

THE FAILURES AND DISAPPOINTMENTS

The long awaited and much maligned “Green Lantern” was a disaster for Warner Bros. and its lead actor, Ryan Reynolds.  The production was riddled with troubles and delays and Warner Bros. shifted the starting date around numerous times.  Famously, it was reported that the marketing department did not even see a finalized cut of the film until a couple of weeks before the film was sent out to exhibitors.  With a robust (and some still say underreported) $200 million budget, “Green Lantern” succumbed to poor reviews and a stunning $116 million domestic gross.  Internationally, the film earned another $90 million and technically, the film was profitable.  But sometimes you lose by winning and “Green Lantern” serves as a prime example of that.

Universal also found a lot of empty seats for its $163 million production, “Cowboys And Aliens”, which fused the two genres of the traditional Western and alien-based Science Fiction about as effectively as oil mixes with water.  Worldwide the film has only grossed $129.0 million and for the scope and ambition of the project, the returns and reaction were tepid at best.

And then we find the graveyard of films that failed to click with audiences and were likely lost in the shuffle of 13 films being dumped into theaters in a 3-week timeframe in August.  While “Final Destination 5″ were saved by worldwide audiences, allowing the film to become a success, “Fright Night” and “Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark” showed that no one really seemed all that interested in vampires not related to “Twilight” or small things that go bump in the night.  The Zoe Saldana-actioner “Colombiana” failed to strike a chord domestically or internationally, and Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess failed to generate much interest in their “One Day” romantic drama.

Lionsgate were simply left embarrassed with their reinvention of “Conan The Barbarian” receiving “worst of the year” notices and branded as perhaps the most unnecessary 3D conversion of all time.  $90 million went into the making of the medieval fantasy and apparently, only the most devout fans of the franchise took the time to see the film

INDIE FILMS FAIL TO BREAK THROUGH/OTHER FILMS FAIL TO INSPIRE

Elsewhere, a number of independent films never caught fire with audiences as Will Ferrell’s dramedy, “Everything Must Go!”, Joseph Gordon-Leavitt’s much buzzed about, but widely ignored, “Hesher”, never drew enough of a crowd to generate the anticipated wider release both films were expected to receive.  Audiences avoided the international hit “City Of Life And Death”, and Mel Gibson’s comeback “The Beaver” was a massive disappointment, despite some rapturous support for the film overall.

Terrence Malick’s “The Tree Of Life” had its devotees, but needed a late push from overseas to turn a profit and the Christian-themed “There Be Dragons” was a massive and perhaps, historical failure.  Another talked about indie, the drama, “A Better Life”, failed to register a blip and was one of the bigger failures, investment-wise, of the summer.

Also, ambitious independent fare failed to connect in July, as “Snow Flower And The Perfect Fan”, “The Devil’s Double”, and “Attack The Block” were all either ignored by audiences or left for dead by their studios.  “Sarah’s Key” and “The Guard” saw word-of-mouth success and, when worldwide totals were factored in, saw themselves beginning to secure profitability with help from domestic ticket sales.

The adaptation of the children’s book series, “Judy Moody And The NOT Bummer Summer!” was a big bummer for Universal who hoped they had a new youth franchise on their hands.  Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts were reminded that everything old is not necessarily new again as their romantic comedy, “Larry Crowne”, was largely panned and ignored.  The film managed to generate a profit with worldwide numbers factored in, but was not nearly the galvanizing rom-com that Universal expected the box office legends to deliver.

The Selena Gomez-led “Monte Carlo” had just enough eyes and wallets take a look to make the film a modest success for Fox.  The abysmal Kevin James comedy, “Zookeeper”, outperformed the 3rd best reviewed film of 2011, “Winnie The Pooh”, outgrossing it by nearly 5:1, eventhough neither film earned back its production budget with its North American totals.

Despite receiving a ton of negative press over its reception at the box office, the “Glee 3D Concert Movie” actually delivered a nice worldwide 70% ROI for 20th Century Fox and became the third-best ROI for the month.  Although barely profitable stateside, “Spy Kids: All The Time In The World” moved into the black for Robert Rodriguez’ restarted franchise.

Below are the Summer’s Biggest Films, ranked by Total Return on Investment, based on Worldwide Box Office figures compared to the film’s Production Budget.  The numbers below are designated as millions.

RK	FILM/STUDIO	PROD. BUDGET	DOM. GROSS	DOM. ROI	INT’L GROSS	TOTAL GROSS	TOTAL ROI
1	Bad Teacher	20.0	98.3	+391.5	103.0	201.3	+906.5
2	Bridesmaids	32.5	168.0	+416.9	109.5	277.5	+753.8
3	The Hangover Part II	80.0	254.3	+217.9	327.0	581.3	+626.6
4	Jumping The Broom	6.6	37.3	+465.2	.400	37.7	+471.2
5	Transformers: Dark…	195.0	349.5	+79.2	758.7	1.108	+468.2
6	Harry Potter/DH Pt. 2	250.0*	370.8	+48.3	923.4	1.294	+417.6
7	Super 8	50.0	126.0	+152.0	119.3	245.3	+390.6
8	Horrible Bosses	35.0	113.8	+225.1	56.6	170.4	+386.9
9	Kung Fu Panda 2	150.0	164.3	+9.5	478.1	642.4	+328.3
10	Pirates: Str. Tides	250.0	240.5	<3.8>	798.5	1.039	+315.6
11	The Help	25.0	96.8	+287.2	N/A	N/A	+287.2
12	Beginners	3.2	5.7	+78.1	6.2	11.9	+271.9
13	The Smurfs	110.0	125.9	+14.5	256.0	381.9	+247.2
14	Rise Of Planet Of Apes	93.0	148.7	+59.9	160.6	309.3	+232.6
15	Midnight In Paris	30.0	51.6	+72.0	46.0	97.6	+225.3
16	Mr. Popper’s Penguins	55.0	67.0	+21.8	101.0	168.0	+205.5
17	Thor	150.0	181.0	+20.7	267.5	448.5	+199.0
18	Cars 2	200.0	187.4	<6.3>	334.6	522.0	+161.0
19	Captain America…	140.0	168.8	+20.6	159.5	328.3	+134.5
20	X-Men: First Class	160.0	146.1	<8.7>	206.2	352.3	+120.2
21	Friends With Benefits	35.0	55.2	+57.7	16.6	71.8	+105.1
22	Zookeeper	80.0	77.2	<3.5>	66.0	143.2	+79.0
23	Larry Crowne	30.0	35.6	+18.7	16.8	52.4	+74.7
24	Something Borrowed	35.0	39.0	+11.4	21.1	60.2	+72.0
25	Glee 3D Concert Movie	9.0	11.7	+30.0	3.6	15.3	+70.0
26	Final Destination 5	40.0	37.9	<5.3>	28.5	66.4	+66.0
27	Crazy, Stupid, Love.	50.0	69.7	+39.4	10.5	80.2	+60.4
28	Monte Carlo	20.0	22.9	+14.5	8.9	31.8	+59.0
29	The Guard	6.0	1.8	<70.0>	6.8	8.6	+43.3
30	Our Idiot Brother	5.0	7.0	+40.0	N/A	N/A	+40.0
31	Priest	60.0	29.1	<51.5>	48.0	77.1	+28.5
32	Sarah’s Key	14.2	4.4	<69.0>	13.4	17.8	+25.4
33	The Tree Of Life	32.0	12.9	<59.7>	26.6	39.5	+23.4
34	Spy Kids/World	27.0	22.0	<18.5>	10.9	32.9	+21.9
35	30 Minutes Or Less	28.0	31.8	+13.6	N/A	N/A	+13.6
36	Winnie The Pooh	30.0	26.1	<13.0>	6.5	32.6	+8.7
37	One Day	15.0	9.8	<34.7>	6.3	16.1	+7.3
38	Green Lantern	200.0	116.0	<42.0>	90.1	206.1	+3.1
39	City Of Life And Death	12.0	.104	<99.1>	10.6	10.7	<10.8>
40	Cowboys And Aliens	163.0	93.5	<42.6>	35.5	129.0	<20.9>
41	Judy Moody/Summer	20.0	15.0	<25.0>	N/A	N/A	<25.0>
42	The Change-Up	52.0	34.5	<33.7>	.784	35.3	<32.1>
43	Fright Night	25.0	14.3	<42.8>	.737	15.0	<40.0>
44	Everything Must Go!	5.0	2.7	<46.0>	N/A	N/A	<46.0>
45	Conan The Barbarian	90.0	16.7	<81.4>	21.5.	38.2	<57.6>
46	Colombiana	40.0	10.4	<74.0>	6.2	16.6	<58.5>
47	Attack The Block	13.0	.746	<94.3>	4.3	5.0	<61.5>
48	Don’t Be Afraid Of…	25.0	8.5	<66.0>	.647	9.1	<63.6>
49	The Beaver	21.0	.971	<95.4>	5.4	6.4	<69.5>
50	Snow Flower/Fan	6.0	1.3	<78.3>	.302	1.6	<73.3>
51	A Better Life	10.0	1.8	<82.0>	N/A	N/A	<82.0>
52	Brighton Rock	12.0	.056	<99.5>	1.6	1.7	<85.8>
53	The Devil’s Double	19.0	1.2	<93.7>	N/A	N/A	<93.7>
54	Hesher	7.0	.382	<94.5>	N/A	N/A	<94.5>
55	There Be Dragons	36.0	1.1	<96.9>	N/A	N/A	<96.9>
56	Redemption Road	2.3	.024	<99.0>	N/A	N/A	<99.0>

 

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